Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently hosted another of his new Twitter "polls" asking people if he should step down as the social media company's CEO. He said he would abide by the results, and it appears he "sort of" is, but there's more to the story.
Elon Musk posted the poll on December 18, 2022. It simply asked if he should step down as head of Twitter, and the choices were "Yes" or "No." About 17.5 million votes later, the people had decided, and the answer was Yes. However, Musk didn't immediately resign, nor come forward with a response.
As you can see, it was almost exactly two days later when Musk applied to his original Twitter poll. Fortunately for the people who voted "Yes," he is going to abide by the results and satisfy their wishes. However, it may be some time before anything happens.
Keep in mind, Musk will still own Twitter, and potentially control it as a CEO does, though he says he'll shift to running "the software & server teams." It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Will it free up much of Musk's time? Will he still constantly tweet and focus on divisive political topics and a whole host of new "Twitter files" threads? Will he jump in and tweet policy changes with a new CEO in charge? How many CEOs will Twitter go through before Musk is satisfied?
At any rate, Musk is actively looking for a new CEO for Twitter, and it appears he could have already had one hired as soon as the poll ended.
MIT research scientist and podcast host Lex Fridman offered his services right around the time of the poll, and he said he'll do it for free. Of course, Musk poked fun at him, saying he must like pain. He also told Lex he'd have to invest his life savings in Twitter, and it may still go bankrupt.
Nonetheless, Fridman still wants the job, and he seems quite confident. Since everything is easily reversible, Musk should have arguably taken Fridman up on his offer right away so that he could actually abide by the results of the poll. He has already found "someone foolish enough to take the job," and he wasn't even looking yet, but he hasn't yet put the "fool" in charge. Perhaps they're working out the details, or maybe Musk has others in mind ...
There are likely several people speaking to Musk about the potential, though we only know of those who have made their interest public on social media. However, with Musk not really "selling" the position, and making it clear that the person who accepts it is a fool, some candidates may not be willing to jump right in, especially since they'll have to answer to Musk when and if things don't progress as the owner sees fit.
It might be tough to successfully run a company with Elon Musk constantly telling you, "I told you so." However, if the new CEO comes in and kicks butt, "fixes" Twitter, and makes the majority of people happier, maybe they will get Musk's support and praise.
This is a developing story. We'll be watching it unfold on Twitter and providing notable updates. In the meantime, do you think Musk will choose Lex? How about Snoop Dog?
When do you think Musk will actually step down? Leave us your thoughts in the comment section below.
